Just a Lie, You've Got To Rise Above
by Gambit Gal
Summary: A songfic based on John Mayer's song "No Such Thing" Kaiba finally learns to accept Yugi and Joey as friends. What made him change from being a sworn enemy to a loyal friend? *One Shot*


Kaiba never thought that the day would come that he would accept Yugi and his friends into his life. Hell, he never thought that he would enjoy the fact that Joey and himself had put their differences aside for friendship.

"Hey Kaiba, we're off to the movies, want to come?" Joey's voice chirped on the phone.

"Sure. What time?" Kaiba answered.

"Meet us there at 8:15."

"Okay, I better get ready then. Bye"

"Bye" Joey replied.

Kaiba then hanged up the phone and dashed towards his room to get his Trench coat and wallet. He loved his new friends now. He loved letting people know the real him. He loved feeling accepted.

When he reached the living room, he went to tell Mokuba where he was going to be for the night. He chuckled to himself when he saw his younger brother fast asleep on the couch.

'Figures. Crazy kid was up all night, at his friend's house, for a sleep over.' Kaiba thought to himself as he took the nearest blanket and placed it on Mokuba to keep him warm. Turning towards the T.V. to turn it off, he saw a scene where two punk kids were vandalizing the side of the wall with a can of spray paint. Turning off the T.V. he chuckled to himself again.

'I still can't believe that he used a can of spray paint to get my attention.'

__

Welcome to the real world

she said to me condescendingly

Take a seat, take your life,

Plot it out in black and white.

****

Flashback

"Alright, Yugi. You've got my attention. No what do you want. I'm a busy man and I don't have the time to put up with one of your offers for my _friendship_" Kaiba spat out at the small teen ahead of him, who was currently holding a can of neon pink spray paint directly at the young CEO.

"Please come to Joey's Birthday party this Saturday! PLEASE! It'll be great! There will be horror movies, music, junk food…" Yugi blurted out excitedly.

All Kaiba could do was raise a questioning eyebrow at him before bursting out in laughter, which happened very rarely. "You really believe that I'd waste my Saturday at a party for a person who I despise. Really, Yugi, Did you honestly believe that I'd say yes?"

Yugi hopeful face soon faded, "Well… yeah. This would be a great way to get to know everybody!"

"I never accepted you or your friendship before, what makes you think that this would be anything special?" Kaiba drawled out before turning his back and walking away from the disappointed teen.

'I cannot believe that Mokuba actually convinced me into going to the mutt's party!' Kaiba growled to himself as his limo came to a halt in front of Joey's house. The CEO's frown soon turned into a smile as he lightly shook the decorated package in his hands.

'At least I am guaranteed a rather pleasant evening.'

****

End flashback

Well I never lived the dreams of the Prom Kings and the Drama Queens

I'd like to think the best of me is still hiding up my sleeve

They love to tell you, stay inside the lines

But something's better on the other side

Kaiba shook his head slightly, trying to ignore his evil plan that he had had that one night. Sighing he walked out of the mansion and into his limo.

'I still am shocked by what I did to him.' Kaiba thought to himself as he ran a hand through his hair and seated himself into the limo.

'He forgave me though. That was the last thing that I thought that I would have ever gotten from Joey, his forgiveness.'

****

Flashback

Joey looked completely bewildered as Kaiba handed him the decorated package. "Huh? You got me a gift? Is there a bomb in it…" Joey asked Kaiba as he eyed the present, that he had just received, cautiously.

Kaiba rolled his eyes and said, "Why would I put a bomb in it? Think hard Mutt. Do you really believe that I would put a bomb in a gift where I am only a few mere feet away and would get blown up myself?"

Joey growled at Kaiba, "First of all, I am not a MUTT! Second, I still don't trust you and I know that you put something bad in this box."

"Well then, why don't you open it and find out. Or are you too scared too?" asked Kaiba.

Still untrusting of Kaiba's motives, Joey slowly opened up the gift. Joey opened the gift until he could see what was in it. His eyes shot up into Kaiba's and glared. His hands curled up into fists. His face turned red with rage. Then he lunged at Kaiba and started attack him. Unfortunately for Joey, Kaiba was well trained in the martial arts. Joey didn't even get one punch in. Kaiba just laughed at Joey's attempts to harm him.

Kaiba then hurled Joey to the floor. "What did you think that you deserved? Money? Psh! You're not even worth the time." Kaiba then walked out of the house.

****

End flashback

I wanna run through the halls of my high school

I wanna scream at the top of my lungs

I just found out there's no such thing as the real world

Just a lie, You've got to rise above

Kaiba growled quietly to himself. He hated himself for doing that to Joey especially on his birthday. He wanted the memories to stop but more and more kept on coming.

****

Flashback

Kaiba's was so pleased with himself that he felt like skipping. Hell, he almost started skipping down Joey's walkway and to his limo, if it were not for the small quiet voice, startling him, from behind. Turning around he saw it was Yugi.

"How can you be so cruel Kaiba?" Yugi asked, disappointment filled his voice.

Kaiba smirked and replied, "What? Did you actually think I would come over and sing "Happy Birthday" to that Mutt?"

Yugi shook his head slightly, "No. I just never thought you would be so cold hearted. I always though you were good inside. Cold to anyone who ever tried to get close to you."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "I really don't have time for you trying to make me feel guilty, Yugi. Trust me, I won't feel guilty. Ever." Kaiba then turned his back on Yugi and continued walking to his limo.

"Stop lying to yourself, Kaiba, and be true to yourself. You and I both know that would love to have friends, you just are afraid of getting close to them and getting hurt. But guess what? You think that my offer of friendship will stay up forever? Cause if you do, you are sadly mistaken. I won't allow you to hurt my friends like you have doing." Yugi said bitterly to Kaiba. Kaiba was just shocked at how Yugi could sound so threatening even though he was only 5"1. Kaiba made no reply. He just stepped into his limo and left.

****

Flashback

So the good boys and girls take the so-called right track

Faded white hats, grabbing credits, maybe transfers

They read all the books but they can't find the answers

Kaiba clenched his teeth. Was he ever happy that Yugi had said that to him because if he hadn't Kaiba would be at his office working like a mindless zombie on his technology. Yugi had awakened Kaiba that night with his words.

Kaiba shook his head slightly, 'Not only did Yugi help me discover that I was being cruel but Joey helped me make the transition between enemies and friends.'

And all of our parents

They're getting older

I wonder if they've wished for anything better

While in the memories, Tiny tragedies

****

Flashback

'How DARE Yugi speak to me like that!' Kaiba thought to himself as he walked down the street. He was so shocked with Yugi, that he got out of his limo, told his driver to drive home, and instead walked home in order to be alone with his thoughts.

After two hours of him walking around Domino, he soon discovered that he was too into his thoughts, for the almighty Kaiba was hopelessly lost. He had no clue as to where he was. Cursing himself mentally for him being so foolish as to ignore where he was going, he whipped out his cell phone and called his driver, telling him what street he was on.

'Psh! I loathe waiting.' Kaiba thought to himself.

A male yelp then echoed down the street, cutting into Kaiba's thoughts. Snapping his head to the side, he stopped breathing, trying to listen again for the yelp, and sure enough, it came. Kaiba pursued in an all out run in the direction of the yelps. When he reached his destination, he was shocked.

There was Joey, lying in a pool of his own blood. His attacker was hunched over Joey and was about to hit the unconscious boy again. Kaiba prevented that from happening. He kneed the attacker hard in the face. The attacker staggered backwards startled by Kaiba and the sudden pain, never knowing that he was there. Kaiba backhanded the attacker sending him sprawling on the ground. Kaiba would have continued with the torture towards the attacker but he didn't.

He heard the now conscious Joey sputter behind him, "Don't, he's my father." Kaiba just looked at the attacker bewildered and sure enough it was Joey's father. Same hair color, same eyes, and that was it. All similarities between the father and his son ended there. 

Joey's father advanced on Kaiba but came to an immediate halt when Kaiba pulled out a gun that was behind his back and underneath his trench coat. He kept it just incase an angry person came to kill Kaiba for "ruining their life" when he fired them. The father just growled and stomped away, muttering under his breath, "We'll deal with this at home Joseph."

__

They love to tell you, stay inside the lines

But something's better on the other side

As soon as Joey's father had left, Kaiba turned around to see how Joey was doing. He was startled by Joey's words though, "Why the hell did you do that!"

Kaiba raised a questioning eyebrow at the blonde, "Do what?"

"Attack my father! I was doing just fine!"

"I'm sure you were." Kaiba replied, rolling his eyes.

Joey just growled in response.

"At least tell me why he was hitting you and why you aren't at your party." Kaiba said flatly although there was concern in his voice.

"Why should I tell you" Joey said, snarling at Kaiba.

****

End Flashback

__

I wanna run through the halls of my high school

I wanna scream at the top of my lungs

I just found out there's no such thing as the real world

Just a lie, You've got to rise above

'I'm happy he finally told me after twenty minutes of arguing about it. I never would have thought that his father was abusing him. He always covered up the pain by smiling and joking around. And here I was, giving Joey a dog bone with a book that was called "Housebreaking your dog" on his birthday.'

__

I am invincible, as long as I'm alive

****

Flashback

"Why did you even leave your party?" Kaiba asked puzzled as he helped Joey with cleaning out his wounds. Kaiba's driver had came by shortly after Joey told Kaiba about his father abusing him. The immediately drove them to the Kaiba mansion and here they were cleaning and bandaging Joey's wounds.

"I… I didn't want my friends to see how my father treated me. So I left the house, unnoticed and intercepted my father between our house and the bar, that's the spot where you found me." Joey said, hissing at the stinging in his wounds.

Kaiba then froze. "Hey wait. Wouldn't your father go back to your house?"

Joey shook his head and replied, "No, he would go back to the bar. Yugi and the rest are perfectly safe."

End Flashback

I wanna run through the halls of my high school

I wanna scream at the top of my lungs

I just found out there's no such thing as the real world

Just a lie, You've got to rise above

Kaiba stepped out of the limo as it came to a steady stop outside of the Movie Theater. Yugi and Joey greeted him at the entrance.

"Took you long enough." Joey said with his usual smile spread across his face.

Kaiba's jaw dropped, "Took _ME_ long enough? Who was the one who made us all late for school because he wanted to see what his hair looked like curly, hmmmmmmmmm?"

Yugi laughed at the memory as Joey whistled innocently.

"Lets go before we miss the movie!" Kaiba said as the three went in and bought their tickets.

****

Flashback

"Joey… I… I…" Kaiba stuttered. 'Damn this is going to be harder than I thought it would.'

"Joey I'm sorry, for everything, you too Yugi." Kaiba said cringing slightly at the word sorry but at least he was turning away from his cruel ways.

"It's alright Kaiba." Yugi said politely, a huge smile was spread across his face.

"Your NOT forgiven!" Joey grumbled but then his face turned into a smile as well, "Course you are! You saved me from my father and thanks to you, he's in jail and I am living at Yugi's."

"Yeah thanks a lot for _THAT_ Kaiba" Yugi joked as Joey stuck out his tongue.

Kaiba just smiled as he thought, 'I can't believe I was missing out on this after all those years of hating them.'

****

End Flashback

__

I just can't wait 'til my 10 year reunion  
I'm gonna bust down the double doors  
And when I stand on these tables before you  
You will know what all this time was for


End file.
